Defeat of Champions

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 805, 28 October 1929, Page 6

Defeat of Champions

VARSITY’S CRICKET WIN Only Five Minutes to Spare IN a tense race against time, the University bowlers succeeded on Saturday afternoon in getting Eden* out five minutes before time, and thus scored a last-minute victory over the champion team of last season’s senior grade, when the first matches of the Auckland Cricket Association’s new season were concluded. Three-point wins were also secured by Parnell, Grafton and Y.M.C.A.

In response to Varsity’s first innings’ effort the previous week, Eden had to score 331 runs in its first innings to win the match. It seldom looked like getting there, and as the afternoon wore on it could be seen that the champions would be hard put to play out time and make a draw of it. The game on No. 3 wicket at Eden Park, Parnell v. Ponsonby, also had a close and exciting finish. At one stage Parnell had nine wickets down for 132 in response to Ponsonby’s first innings* total of 194, but Singleton and Goodsir hit out merrily and saved the day fo.r Parnell, Duncan declaring with the score over 200, and the pair still together. EDEN FIGHTS ALL DAY BUT VARSITY TRIUMPHS COLTS TO CHAMPiONS’ RESCUE Speculation was rife at Eden Park on Saturday as to whether or not Eden, the acknowledge best batting team In the competition, could top •>3O runs against the University bowlers. It was generally thought that the champions would go very near to it, and this was borne out to a certain extent by the fine opening innings of J. E. Mills. But when men of the reputation of Gillespie and G. L. Weir fell before the wiles of the students for very moderate scores, the situation took on a different complexion. It was certainly unfortunate for Eden that rain had fallen since the previous week, but such is the luck of the toss. Matheson and Smeeton both gave Mills and Postles some concern, but

the brilliant left-hander soon got into his stride, and opened out with characteristically artistic shots on both sides of the wicket. Postles did little more than hold his end up till he was clean-bowled by Garrard for 16. Garrard was bowling exceptionally well, and dismissed Gillespie and G. L. Weir shortly after Postles. Mills alone, was equal to the Varsity attack, and it was nothing less than a calamity for Eden when he was sent back to the pavilion shortly after tea with an invaluable 72 to his ci*edit. « He scored particularly freely in the early part of his innings, but when the procession to and from the pavilion set in, he steadied up somewhat. He reached liis half century after one hour twenty minutes at the wicket. Postles took 55 minutes to score liis 16. LAWRIE’S STUBBORN STAND G. L. AVeir opened most confidently, and it looked as though he would materially assist Mills in getting the required runs. However, he paid the penalty when he went out to Garrard for a big hit. X<awrie and Mills held the fort till the tea adjournment. With seven wickets then in hand. Eden a.t that stago had good chances of staying out tho time. After Mills went, wickets

fell first. Lawrie seeing Brooke—Smith, A. Weir and Vic Butler strike the homeward trail after vain attempts to play tlio deadly bowling'. Then Vivian joined Lawrie, and Eden l opes ran high as the pair dug in, and scored slowlv hut surely. Vivian revealed a sound defence and many powerful scoring shots and Lawrie excelled himself for his first senior grade match. The last nail was driven into Edens coffin at 5.55 p.m., however, when Vivian was snapped up behind off Schnauer. Lang ton played confident! v. and managed to hold his end up for another 15 minutes before he was caught by Matheson off Schnauer. All the while Lawrie defied every attempt of the Varsity men to get him out. And more than that, he continued to score regularly with singles and braces. -LAST, LONELIEST ...” When the genial last man, F. McCarthy, came in, -’0 minutes yet remained. The Eden stumper off-drove the first two halls ho received. With the sands of time ebbing Rule Garrard and his men had visions of victory being snatched from their very grasp, but the end to Eden's fight tame at 6.25 p.m., when Lawrie was

caught behind off Smeeton after an innings of 58, which might well have been the means of saving the match for his side. Details: UNIVERSITY First Innings 330 EDEN First Innings MILLS, 1) Matheson . 72 POSTLES, b Garrard 1G GILLESPIE, b Garrard 4 WEIR, G. L„ b Garrard 8 BROOKE-SMITH, c sub., b Smeeton 9 BUTLER, lbw, b Smeeton 0 WEIR, A. F., c Pearson, b Smeeton 1 LAWRIE, c Browne, b Smeeton .. 58 VIVIAN, c Browne, b Schnauer .... 55 LANGTON, o Matheson, b Sohnauer 0 McCarthy, not out 0 Extras 19 Total 242 Bowling: Smeeton, 4-37: Garrard, 3-53; Schnauer, 2-24; Matheson, 1-64; Bush, GOODSIR AND SINGLETON WIN GAME FOR PARNELL PONSONBY TOO CONFIDENT What cricket eleven, with 62 runs as a comfortable margin of safety, would expect the lastwicket batsmen of the opposition, which had had a colourless innings up to then, to run out for a win? Even the hardened veteran members of Ponsonby felt supremely confident remembering their first innings score of 194, when they saw Parnell’s ninth wicket fall for 132 on Eden Park No. 3 on Saturday afternoon. Not long after, Ponsonby’s bowlers and fieldsmen were making frantic efforts to stop Goodsir and Singleton, Parnell’s last-wicket partnership, from scoring. It was a vain task. With little restraint, the Parnell men hit vigorously, and the score rapidly neared Ponsonby’s. From facing defeat, Parnell’s hopes soared with the vision of a three-point win on the first innings. It came surely enough. Ponsonby’s 194 was passed when a wildly-tossed ball gave Parnell three byes. Ponsonby’s fielding at the end was lamentably weak. There was a reflection of this flaw in the 30 extras awarded Parnell. Admittedly, Ponsonby’s team-work was disjointed, to an extent, by the absence of McLeod and C. E. Guiney. Apart from that, no excuse could be offered for the overconfidence apparent in Ponsonby in the early stages of the surprisingly excellent stand by Singleton and Goodsir. Parnell’s last-wicket batsmen, on more than one occasion, had “lives.” But theirs was a fighting game, under heavy odds; a degree of good fortune in their batting was completely acceptable. Goodsir and Singleton, wlio, strangely enough, scored 37 each, lifted the game from mediocrity. The score was hurried up to 216 by afternoon tea time before Parnell declared its innings closed, with the partnership still undefeated. HAY’S POLISHED BATTING There was another valiant Parnell batsmen. Hay, who played through from the previous Saturday to end up with a valuable score of 41. Actually, Play gave the most- polished batting display for Parnell, although Anthony showed nicety in hitting to return 21. McCoy (15) and Whitelaw (14) were the only other batsmen to perform reasonable service for the winning eleven. In company with A. F. Wensley, the new English coach, Parnell's colts are going to gain experience which should count a good deal in the competition. Goodsir and Singleton, apart from occasional instances of reckless hitting in tlieir essentially fighting game, revealed qualifications for consideration for batting positions further up on the scale. The best bpwler of the day was the tall Ponsonby colt, Roy, who gained the line average of 5-46. Turbott, Von Rotter and Duncan were three who fell cheaply before Roy’s deceptive deliveries, and, at one stage, Roy had a 4-16 average. Parnell’s unexpected stand damaged his performance. Early in the innings, W. Fletcher, the ex-Suburban man, troubled Parnell with spin bowling. In place of Guiney and McLeod, the veterans, S. G. Smith and N. C. Snedden. opened Ponsonby’s second strike. Terij Parnell bowlers could not beat the partnership, which had yielded 88 at stumps. Details: PONSONBY First innings 194 Second Innings SNEDDEN, not out 41 SMITH, not out 44 'Extras ’ 3 No wickets for 8S PARNELL First Innings HAY. c Monteith, b Finlayson .. .. 41 WHITELAW, lbw, b Cleverley .. .. 14 STEHR, b Fletcher .. .. U McCOY. e and b Snedden 15 ANTHONY, c Hunt, b Roy .. .. 21 TURBOTT. lbw, b Roy 6 VON ROTTER, b Rov .* 0 DUNCAN, b Roy ..* 6 AITKEX, st Hunt, b Rov 9 SINGLETON, not out .. ". .37 GOODSIR, not out .. 37 Extras 30 Nine wickets (declared) for . . . . 216 Bowling: Roy, 5-46; Cleverley, 1-8; Fletcher. 1-31; Snedden, 1-34; Finlayson, 1-47; Smith, 0-18.

HONOURS LIST BATTING J. E. MILLS (Eden) .. .. 72 R. LONERGAN (Suburbs) .. 58 G. D. LAWRIE (Eden) .. 58 L. E. VIVIAN (Eden) 55 S. G. SMITH (Ponsonby) . 44* N. C. SNEDDEN (Ponsonby) 41* S. C. HAY (Parnell) 41 not out BOWLINGH. ROY (Ponsonby) . . 5-46 W. J. SMEETON (Varsity) 4-38 W. L. ELLIOTT (Y.M.C.A.) 4-70 S. WILSON (Grafton) . . 3-29 C. F. W. ALLCOTT (Grafton) 3-30 D. R. GARRARD (Varsity) 3-53 T. LYON (Y.M.C.A.) . .. 3-69

DISAPPOINTING DISPLAY BY NORTH SHORE MEN GRAFTON’S THREE-POINT WIN It is many years since North Shore gave such a poor display of cricket as against Grafton at Devonport on Saturday. The Grafton total of 277 the first day was not paralysing enough to strike terror into the hearts of the Shore batsmen, old and young, and nine had been wiped off without loss of a wicket before play started on Saturday. The wicket was dead and easy, and getting runs should have been dead easy. Lack of courage has not been a failing of the Shore Club in previous seasons, and the policy adopted on Saturday was a long way removed from local traditions. Long hops were allowed to pass by, half-volleys were patted back to the bowler, while easy singles were thrown away galore. There was no fire in the wicket, no sting in the bowling, and no life in the batting. Wilson secured three wickets for 29; Allcott, with no help from the pitch, got three for 30, and Mac Cormack, with a soft mixture, claimed two for 35. A BRIGHT INTERLUDE The only break in the monotony of the game was when Gerrard and Naismith put on 56 for the sixth wicket, and showed how simple the bowling was by scoring freely all round the wicket; Gerrard showing some nice forcing shots before being tempted by the Allcott-Rowntree combination. Of the earlier batsmen, Don Webb had more than an hour’s discomfort for 18 runs; Saunders was about half an hour longer making 20 (including two lives and two accidental sixes); Player was more than an hour getting eight reluctant singles. The procession ended at 6.15, the question, “Has anyone here seen Kelly?” being answered in the negative; and Shore, batting one short, was defeated by 117 runs, after pottering about for more than four hours on a batsman’s wicket for 160 runs. j The large gathering of Shore spectators on Saturday was distinctly critical of the home team’s tactics, and a few more such displays will soon find the Shore attendance dwindling to less than Eden Park. Details: GRAFTON First Innings . . 277 SHORE First Innings. SAUNDERS, lbw, b Wilson 20 WEBB, D., b Allcott 18 PRATER,, run out 4 PLAYER, c. Rowntree, b Mac Cormack 8 BUSH, J-. E., c Sheen, b Mac Cormack L 9 GERRARD, st Rowntree, b Allcott . 34 NAISMITH, c Hockin, b Wilson . . 22 REID, b Allcott G WEBB, K. T., not out 18 COATES, c Horspool, b Wilson .... 9 KELLY, absent 0 Extras 7 Total 160 Bowling: Wilson, 8-29; Allcott, 3-30; Mac Cormack, 2-35; Horspool, 0-6; Franklin, 0-15; Stone, 0-38.

UNITED SUBURBS PUTS UP GALLANT FIGHT THREE POINTER TO Y.M. United Suburbs made a plucky light at Victoria Park on Saturday afternoon in the endeavour to reach Y.M.C.A.'s previous week’s total of 239, but the effort failed, and the innings closed for 194, giving the Young Men a first innings win by 45 runs. Wetheril'l and McLaren opened for Suburbs, and after playing steadily, appeared to be well set until Wetherill was caught, and was followed soon afterwards by McLaren. Martin and Lonergan added over 60 before a separation was effected, Martin being run out for 34. Lonergan carried on the good work, but did not receive any assistance f.rom Kerr, who was bowled for three. Bushill stayed at the crease for a long time, but scored only six runs before he was bowled; and Hendy —in whom the hopes of the side now rested to a large extent —was run out when ho had scored two. Stotter and Webster carried on for a spell until tho former got his leg in front of a straight one when he was 15. Leikis made six when he was caught and bowled; and the last man, Preston, had not scored when Webster lost his wicket for 19. The hopes of the Suburbs' supporters on the bank see-sawed throughout the game, but with the dismissal of Hendy there were no more batsmen of note left to pull the game out of the fire. Stotter and Webster made a gallant stand, but did not seem able to get the ball away past the fieldsmen, and scoring was slow. Suburbs was unfortunate, as the wicket was much slower than on the previous week. Potential boundaries failed, as the outfield was also slow, and though the ball left the bat at a fast clip, it mostly failed to reach the boundary line. On the day and wicket, Suburbs’ total was equal to that of Y.M.’s the previous week, but that did njt make any difference to the score-board. In addition, the fielding was keen, and there were not many runs given away. Elliott and Lyon had a hard day at the bowling crease. The former bowled 24 overs during the afternoon, and Lyon 28. A short change was made with Clarke, Kemp, and Riddolls, but Elliott and Lyon changed ends, and kept at it. They accomplished their object, but it must have been a trying time for a fast bowler like Lyon. Scores;— Y.M.C.A. First Innings £39 UNITED SUBURBS First Innings. Mo LA HEN, b Lyon .... 9n c Paton ' b Eiuoit " si Elliott, b Lyon " " || KERR. 1. Elliott .... , BUSHILL. b Kemp ] e HENDY. run out .. „ STOTTER, lbw, b Elliott"..".'.' " 15 WEBSTER, b Lyon tu LMIKIS, < and b Elliott .. .*.* .*.* « I’REHTON, not out ** n Extras .* 7 Total T 94 Bowling: I,yon, 3-69; Elliott, 4-70; Riddoll", 0-13; Clarke, 0-7; Kemp, 1-27.

CRICKET IN AUSTRALIA ! IBETTINGTON BATS WELL FOR PADDINGTON IRONMONGER GOOD WITH BALL (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) SYDNEY, Sunday. In the grade cricket championship matches at Sydney yesterday, R. H. Bettington, batting for Paddington against Glebe, made 93 not out. For Balmain against Marrickville Longworth made 64 not out. Bowling for Petersham against Gordon, McAndrews took seven for 93. For Wetsern Suburbs against University Dupain took six for In the Melbourne competitions Ponsford, batting for Melbourne against St. Kilda, made 55. Ironmonger took six wickets for 16. OPENING IN DUNEDIN i FIRST OF GRADE MATCHES Press Association DUNEDIN, Sunday. Gi'ade cricket matches were begun yesterday under ideal conditions and the matches were full of interest. Playing against High School Old Boys. Grange made 335 for eight wickets (Elmes 80, Galland 72 not out, Knight 63, Chadwick 42). Carisbrook made 196 (Priest 37, Douglas 39, Jacobs 24). McGavin took two wickets for 23 runs, Vorrath two for 8, Agnew two for 24. Albion has lost one wicket for j 50 (Vorrath 22, Shepherd 23 not out). Christian Brothers, playing its first match in the senior grade, made 196 against Dunedin (Toomey 45, Parsons I 40, Mcllroy 30). PLAY IN CHRISTCHURCH ' SECOND ROUND BEGINS Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, Sunday. The second round of the matches in the senior cricket competition began yesterday in bleak and dull but dry weather. Riccarton, playing East Chi'istchurch, scored 277 (J. L. Powell 80). Cunningham took five wickets for 74 . runs. Against Linwood, Old Collegians scored 292 (Chrystall 55, Lester 47, Burroughs 52). Linwood has lost one wicket for 30. Against St. Albans, West Christchurch scored 205 (W. Hayes 38). Lindley took four wickets for 69. Batting first against Old Boys, ' Sydenham was- all out for 137 (J. Newman 48). Merritt took five wickets for 32. Old Boys lost two wickets for 67. HAURAKI PLAINS ASSOCIATION MEETS From Our Own Correspondent NGATEA, Today. The Hauraki Plains Cricket Association held its annual meeting at Ngatea on Friday evening, Mr. H. L. Berney presiding over delegates from six affiliated clubs. The annual report recorded a successful season and commented on the true sportsmanship shown in all matches. It advocated continuing the system of two-day matches, as in the past season this had raised the standard of play. A fair credit balance was shown in the balance sheet. All clubs promised to pay their arrears of affiliation fees. Officers appointed were as follow: Patron, Mr. A. W. Hall. M.P.; president, Mr. H. L. Berney; vice-presi-dents, Messrs. J. G. Miller, H. Dent, G. S. Foster and F. Rogers; secretary and treasurer, Mr. J. O’Carroll; auditor, Mr. S. W. Rolfe; selector, Mr. J', G. Miller; wet weather committee, Messrs. F. Wallis, J. G. Miller and N. Boyne; delegates to Thames-Hauraki Association, Messrs. F. L. Berney. J. O’Carroll. N. Boyne and F. Wallis. Particular reference was made when a vote of thanks to the retiring officers was being proposed, to the services rendered by Mr. F. L. Wallis during the four years he held the secretaryship. The secretary was instructed to endeavour to arrange representative matches with neighbouring associations. It was decided that one round of two-day matches and one round of one-day matches be played for the inter-club competition, and that the games commence at 11 a.m. and stumps be drawn at 3.30 p.m. The competition will commence on November 2, the draw being as follows: —First series: Pipiroa, at Turua; Kaihere, at Waitakaruru; Ngatea, at Kopuarahi. Second series: Kaihere, at Pipiroa: Turua, at Ngatea; Waitakaruru. at Kopuarahi. Third series: Pipirao, at Waitakaruru; Kopuarahi, at Turua; Ngatea, at Kaihere. Fourth series: Ngatea. at Pipiroa; Turua, at Waitakaruru; Kopuarahi, at Kaihere. Fifth series: Pipiroa, at Kopuarahi; Kaihere, at Turua; Waitakaruru, at Ngatea. The draw for the one-day match round will be made later. WELLINGTON GAMES Press Association WELLINGTON, Sunday. The senior cricket competitions were continued yesterday in fine weather. University, 336. beat Old Boys, 334. Hutt, 234, beat Wellington, 201, and one wicket fo.r 108. Petone, 206, and seven wickets for 70, beat Institute, 175. Kilbirnie, 167, and six wickets for 118 (declared), beat Midland, 101, and six wickets for 96. The best performances wereh —Batting: H. M. Lambert (Old Boys), 79: K. C. James (Old Boys). 66; W. McKenzie (Hutt), 66 not out; D. Burt (Institute). 56 not out; W. F. Airey (Wellington), 56 not out: C. Reynolds (Old Boys), 51; W. J. R. Christopherson (Kilbirnie), 51. Bowling: R. H. Hope (Petone), five wickets for 90 runs. £3,000 FOR SUTCLIFFE (United P.A. — By Telegraph — Copyright) LONDON, Saturday. The cricket match for Herbert Sutcliffe’s benefit realised £3,000, a record for Y’orkshire County cricket.